Why some children really struggle to switch off screens (and what design has to do with it)

In our work with families and educators, we often hear about their challenges surrounding children’s screen use.

These challenges are reported most regularly when needing to transition a child away from a digital device – which can give rise to big emotions and resistance, or what some have called “tech tantrums”. These moments disrupt daily routines and cause conflict for many families. Families also tell us that they are worried about the quality and potentially ‘addictive’ nature of their child’s digital activity. 

It is unsurprising parents have these concerns. Media routinely present digital technology as inherently good or bad – and most often bad. One study of Australian media reports between 2019-2022 found that only one presented a positive framing of children’s digital technology use. This is echoed by current Australian government recommendations, which focus on limiting the amount of time children spend using screens – regardless of whether it is TV viewing or FaceTime with grandparents. In each case, a burden is placed on parents, carers and educators to monitor and manage their children’s digital activity, requiring intensive surveillance and restrictions around use of digital technologies in the home.

What is surprising to us is there has been far less focus on the design of the digital games and apps that children engage with, leading to a landscape some describe as the ‘Digital Wild West’. This matters now more than ever. There is a steady rise in app use in early childhood and an explosion of apps marketed to young children. Our research, along with others’, showed that these apps – including those atop Bestseller Charts – are surprisingly rife with persuasive design features that aim to sustain engagement and influence children’s in-app choices.

What did we do?

We explored these questions through digital play with 73 Australian preschool children, in a children’s museum and pre-school services. Children were randomly assigned to play with one of three popular pet simulation apps – each with a different level of persuasive design. The low persuasive design app was created by PBS Kids (a public media organisation in the US) and had next to no persuasive design. Both the moderate and high persuasive design apps were commercial apps, with frequent prompts, rewards and requests for in-app purchases. 

Each child played with their allocated app for 6 minutes. We then let them know that they had 1 minute of play time left and then we would like them to join us across the room for our next activity. We used a 1-minute sand timer so they could easily see when 1 minute was up. We waited on the other side of the room, and if they looked to us, we confirmed that they should come join us. If they had not looked or begun moving after 2 minutes, we gave them a verbal reminder and request. If after another minute they still had not joined us, we returned to gently remind the child of the next activity and turn the iPad off.

The next activity was a playful assessment of children’s self-regulation abilities. We did this because we speculated that children’s ability to disengage from a device, when required, would involve a tug-of-war between the app’s engaging design and the child’s self-regulation to resist the app’s efforts to keep them engaged. Based on these assessments, we characterised children as having higher or lower self-regulation relative to their peers.

What did we find?

First, all children were generally able to transition away from the low persuasive design app, regardless of their self-regulation ability.

However, and perhaps unsurprising to readers, children with low self-regulation took significantly longer time to disengage from the apps with moderate to high persuasive design compared to the app with low persuasive design. Under higher persuasive design conditions, these children also required more reassurance, support or assistance to disengage; 14% required us to turn off the iPad, compared to 3% in the low persuasive design condition. 

Children with high self-regulation were able to transition away from these moderate-to-high persuasive design apps as easily as if they had low persuasive design, showing an even stronger effect of children’s self-regulation on their digital gameplay than we expected.

Why does this matter?

These results suggest two things to us. 

First, persuasive design is a critical factor in children’s digital choices and activity. We would do well to identify ways to influence these widespread app design practices – whether by policy or by users turning away from options that employ deceptive practices. Researchers and public-benefit organisations have a role in supporting parents to make these informed choices.

Second, persuasive design does not affect all children the same way. Instead, children most susceptible are those already having more trouble overcoming impulses or big emotions. There is opportunity and need to identify ways we can support children’s digital self-regulation, ‘inoculating’ them against these attempts to hijack their autonomy, interests and preferences.

Where to next?

We are continuing this work to study effects of design features on young children’s digital choices and transition, and how we can prepare children to serve their own interests rather than those that apps encourage them to pursue. Yet there are practical strategies we can offer already, which may help support families’ digital decisions:

1. Use trusted sources and guides like ‘Commonsense media’ to check out reviews and recommendations prior to downloading an app for your child.
   
2. Play together with your child whenever possible (evidence from our work and others’, for instance, consistently show benefits of co-use of digital devices). As you play, ask yourself questions like ‘am I comfortable with the amount of advertising?’ and ‘is the app promoting my child’s autonomy to make their own choices as they play?’ Talking to your child about their play will also give you insights into these questions.
   
3. Opt for public (non-profit-driven) and educational media where possible, like ABC Kids. Popularity is not an optimal gauge – the highest ranking or most downloaded apps can be high in amount and types of persuasive design.
   
4. Support your child’s transitions away from screens. Set clear expectations surrounding the child’s digital activity in advance, and reminders and forewarnings when it is coming to an end. Use elements from their digital activity to inspire them to move to their next non-digital activity. Offer them some choices for their transition, like what they would like to do next.

If you have any questions, ideas or concerns about persuasive design which may help direct our research activity, we’d love to hear from you.